Hey everyone!
If you’re reading this- thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to visit my blog! I am encouraged to use this platform as a way to communicate all the happenings leading up to and during my mission trip- so… WELCOME!
As I am typing this, I am super excited and expectant to see all that the Lord is going to do right now, and in the future as I step onto the field in January.
International missions is something very new for me. Apart from annually serving at a Foster Kid’s Camp each summer, the only “traveling mission” opportunity I’ve had was a High School ministry trip in 2018 to Huntington, West Virginia- which at the time was the opioid epidemic capital of the nation. Reminiscing back on that, I remember experiencing many new things in my faith and attaining a new hightened sensitivity. I remember the darkness and the silence, the way the wind moved… Certain distractions that would arise when we prayer walked. I remember witnessing an overdose in the parking lot of a public park that meets the Ohio River- kids swinging on swing-sets a couple yards away. I also remember the hospitality of the churches we partnered with, and the joy and peace overflowing from the fellow believers. Though I sensed a deeper understanding of an outside perspective that week, I never took another step into a mission opportunity- until now.
Recently in May, a few of my friends returned from long term mission trips. One of my friends, Savannah, returned from a couple months in Zambia, Africa! When we met for dinner alongside a mutual friend, we each got on the topic about missions. What she didn’t know was that a couple weeks before, I was just Google-ing a couple different opportunities- just to see what it’d be like. Unbeknownst to me, our other friend, Nicole, had recognized the Lord’s calling for her to pursue missions, and she was deep in prayer for discernment to make the right decision- not on if to go, but where. Seeing Savannah for the first time in several months, I immediately sensed something different about her. She was still-er than before… a little less anxious… wasn’t as antsy anymore… she had an underlying peace. That night, I began my search for a mission opportunity.
A couple weeks after that, my friend, Sydney, returned from a 9-month long mission with The World Race. Her route went to Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa, and Guatemala. During her race, we kept up regularly, and she would update me on nearly everything she experienced physically, mentally, and spiritually. I had never really had a perspective of what occurred in these other countries. I notice and acknowledge the existence of them, but never took the time or chance to understand the reality of them. Sydney’s perspective was one of the first to open a little peephole into the world outside of the United States. When Sydney came back to the country after 9 months away, we met for late night dinner at the one and only… Waffle House! As she updated us, she was super calm, but super excited… practically on the edge of her seat the whole conversation… her wide smile never went away… she had unspeakable joy.
Seeing the evidence of fruit from the Holy Spirit in both of my friends (peace and joy) gave me confirmation that the Lord was changing my hearts desire to seek Him, and bear that very fruit myself. That very week multiple different organizations reached out to me about the different opportunities they had. After much prayer, I landed on The World Race Semester in Central America! I applied, interviewed, got accepted, and am now committed! I don’t know what’s ahead, but I am choosing to trust and obey the Lord. Earlier this year, I heard a sermon over the Passover and the Exodus. When God told the people to leave, they didn’t know what was ahead. They had what they could grab, and a trough of dough… Imagine what was in their survival kit. What would they bring with them into the desert? You think someone would probably have brought an instrument to praise the Lord with? God provided for them. He gave them manna from heaven, water from the stone, and God gave them everything they needed for the season they were in. Everything that they had before from a past season, and everything that they would end up needing in this season, God was caring for and providing for them. This is a new thing for me, but if this is His will, I am trusting that He will provide the way.
“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 NIV
I’ll leave this post with one simple thought. Sometimes when the Lord does a “new thing” in our lives, it’s a miracle He’s already worked before, but this time He’s adding it to a completely different masterpiece. All for His honor, all for His glory.
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